Saturday, October 26, 2013

Clean Floors and Wintertime

Friday:

So I FINALLY swept, vacuumed and mopped my floors this afternoon.  Well, part of them anyway.  I got the dining room, living room and kitchen done.  Once those floors dry and after Lucas gets home from work (any minute now), I plan on finishing up the hallway and two the bathrooms upstairs, since I can block those off with the baby gate while they dry.  Tomorrow I plan on attacking the den, the dog room and the laundry room, which are all downstairs.  Oh and I guess I'll need to do the stairs and foyer, too!

I even dusted the upstairs, which happens even less often than mopping.

This post is already full of magic and wonder and utter delight.  :)

Just kidding.
THIS is how I actually prefer to get things done.

Saturday:

I obviously didn't get very far on my post yesterday.  The baby woke up from his nap and I never sat down at the laptop again after that.

This morning, Delano and I participated in the Greater Chattanooga Hydrocephalus Association 5k Walk.  The day started off REALLY COLD (it was still only 31 degrees at 8:30!) but it ended up being a GORGEOUS, crisp, sunny day for a walk around downtown!  I was worried about dressing Delano.  The last time it was winter, he was only a few months old and so bundling him up in a bunch of blankets was super easy.  But now that he's a toddler, he has the ability to protest and take things (like hats and gloves and blankets) off.  I ended up putting him in fleece-lined pants, a long-sleeved shirt, fleece socks and tennis shoes.  Then I put him in a down coat and a hat that covered his ears, and then zipped his bottom half into a stroller blanket.  And then I put socks on his hands (since he doesn't yet have any gloves).  He was cozy and perfect!

I actually didn't expect the socks to last, but I think he realized his fingers were cold without them!
Mmmmmm donut!
Donuts make me happy!!
Oh and guess what this mom did??

THAT'S RIGHT.  THAT'S A PARALLEL PARKED MINIVAN, BABY!
I think that's the best parallel park I've ever done, actually.  WEIRD.

So now that it's really starting to get cold out, I've had to switch gears on the wardrobe - both mine and Delano's (Lucas can take care of himself haha).  I packed up Delano's summery 12-month clothes and filled his closet with all of the fall/winter clothes I bought for him from consignment sales over the last couple of months.  We've got long-sleeved shirts, hoodies and pants galore.  I've stocked up on socks (which he wasn't wearing AT ALL before last week), bought two jackets and one winter coat, have several pairs of tennis shoes in sizes 4 and 5, and bought a pair of snow boots for 5 bucks (just in case).  With the exception of not having any gloves yet, Delano is pretty set for the next several months.  And Baby #2 is set with all of Delano's gender-neutral hand-me-downs.

I haven't actually done any switching around in my closet or dresser yet, since I still live in maternity tank tops all the time.  It's just becoming time to put something OVER the tank tops!  I've been racking up on fall/winter maternity clothes at the consignment sales, so I think I'm set as well.  I don't have a TON of maternity clothes for winter, but since I've only got a couple of months to go, who cares?  The one thing I really wonder about is my feet.  My feet are ONLY comfortable in flip flops for extended periods of time.  Nothing else will do, not even my good running shoes.  Working an 8-hour bartending shift at the museum is pure torture on my feet (even with my supposed-to-be-incredibly-comfortable work shoes) simply because they're not my flip flops.  So I'm thinking I'll probably be "that girl" in sweaters and flip flops this winter....with icy toes!  Ah well.  I could always go the socks and flip flops route.  JUST KIDDING.

That is THE WORST.  I don't care that you can buy socks specifically made for flip flops.  JUST NO.

I never got around to cleaning the downstairs floors today.  I chose to do some other, less exhausting chores instead.  Maybe I'll get to the downstairs tomorrow when I'm not spending my morning hiking around downtown for 3.1 miles pushing a stroller uphill with Baby #2 sinking so low into my abdomen that it feels like he/she is trying to fall out of my yaya. 

Thursday, October 24, 2013

29 Weeks and Minivan Drivin'

29 weeks and counting!


Looks a whole lot like my 28 weeks pic......since I only took the 28 weeks one 2 days ago!  But let's move on to 29 weeks the first time around:


Pretty similar, I'd say.  It's hard to tell anymore!  But I do know that I am bigger around in general, especially in my "raised waistline" - the space between my belly and boobs.  Just check out the boobs-to-belly ratio.  So since I'm bigger as a whole, maybe my belly is actually bigger than before and the pictures just don't show it well?  Ah well.  Who cares, right? 

Baby #2 is an active one, for sure.  Especially in the evenings.  I'm sure Delano was as well, I've just already forgotten the specifics.  It's funny how you think you'll remember every little thing and yet how much you end up forgetting.  You know it happened, you just forget the details.  Which is why I'm glad I kept a journal of Delano before he was born and am blogging about Delano's growth and Baby #2.  I plan on printing out all of my blog posts and organizing them in a binder (or two or three......).  That way, when my kids grow up, they'll have the story of their life at their fingertips.  Or maybe my kids will think I'm a hoarder of binders with ZERO interest in keeping them.  Not my problem.  :)

Binders of women.  Haha!

So I am an official Minivan Mom!  I drove the van for the very first time on Sunday, on the drive back home from Nashville.  And I've been driving it ever since.  I've even parked it between two cars.  Not perfectly and without nervousness, but I did it.  :)  It's actually really easy to drive, and of course incredibly comfortable and REALLY spacious.  I have so much room!!!  But all that room means I can just barely reach the baby, and I definitely can't reach for and retrieve things he's chucked onto the floorboard.  And I need a bigger mirror for the rearview headrest, as I can just barely see him in his mirror now!  And I guess I'll need two.  :)

Speaking of needing some bigger mirrors, the Duck Duck Goose Children's Consignment Sale opens up to the public today at 10:00 am, and I'm planning on being there!  My shopping list includes car seat mirrors, a baby swing (the outdoor kind, to hang under the deck), bouncy balls, a little piano and nursing tank tops.  And anything that looks like an awesome Christmas present.  Delano should be good on clothes until the next round of sales in the Spring, but I'll probably swing back by the sale on 50% off day (Monday) to see if there's anything I just can't resist.  The All About Kids Consignment Sale is going on right now, with the 50% off day happening on Saturday.  I went by there on Monday and bought a couple of long-sleeved maternity tops and a pair of winter boots for Delano in case we get any snow, but they didn't have anything else on my list (or if they did, it already sold).  I might swing back by on Saturday to check the toys and clothes again, but that just depends on my day.  Delano and I are walking in the 2013 Greater Chattanooga Hydrocephalus Association Walk Saturday morning and need to be parked, checked in and ready to roll no later than 10:30.


Time to get the baby changed, dressed and fed some breakfast!  We've gotta leave here in about half an hour if I want to make it to Duck Duck Goose in time to get in line before it opens!  :)

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

28 Weeks Belly Photo (Finally) and Breech Ultrasounds.

I finally got the 28 week/6 month baby belly pic taken.  Five days late, but ah well.  Life happens.

6 months of Baby #2!
As always, let's compare last round's 28 week mark:

6 months of Delano!
I think the size is pretty much the same, but this one appears to be sitting lower.  Of course, during the last two ultrasounds I had the baby was in the breech position with all four limbs folded up in front of his/her face, so all that "lowness" may just be due to the fact that the baby's butt is down there.

Speaking of those recent ultrasounds, two weeks ago we had our first 4D ultrasound.  Well, since the baby's arms and legs (ALL of them) were up around his/her face, there were NO good photo ops so we rescheduled a second session for a week later.  Before the second session, I ate some chocolate and drank a soda to wake the baby up and get those limbs moving.  And wouldn't you know it.....Baby #2 STILL insisted on covering his/her face with those hands and feet!  The technician went ahead and saved a few of the profile shots she took, but here in another week we'll be back in to try again!  I don't mind in the least bit....all the more times I get to see that little baby.  :)

Definite leg and arm in front of a partial profile.
That's a foot above my baby's head.  He/she is folded like a lawn chair.
Are we being flipped off???
As much of the front of the face we could get....a tiny bit more than a profile.

I need to Google all the old wives tale ways for flipping a breech baby.  Not that there's any concern about the baby's position right now from a medical standpoint, but the technician said the ultrasounds would be WAY easier if the baby was facing down.  Anybody want to stand on their head with me?

Google Images shows lots of ladies in this position.  Guess I'll be doing some of that!

On a serious note.....I have some friends who lost their baby last week.  The mom was a good ways along (though the pregnancy had still not been announced yet) and they knew they were having a little girl.  They went in for a check-up to find out that there wasn't a heartbeat.  It's been a week since they found out the news, and I haven't stopped thinking about them.  I can't imagine being in their shoes, with the overwhelming sadness they must feel.  It makes me feel guilty (though I'm fully aware I shouldn't) for being a person that is able to have such easy and predictable pregnancies (though I should knock on wood....this one isn't over until it's over!).  Here I am being all excited and posting upbeat pictures and complaining about such minor "pregnant girl problems" (like only being able to see a profile view during an ultrasound) while others are suffering a major loss.  But when I hear about people losing their children, either while pregnant or in the years after, I just feel so sad, because that person could be me.  It could be any of us at any given moment.  And they are not the only people who I know personally that have lost a child.  Bad things happen to good people, and for those who believe there is always a reason....then there is a reason.

I also found out that the very day they lost their little girl was National Infant and Pregnancy Loss Awareness Day.  I'm sure this day will always hold a very special place in their hearts as remembrance for themselves as well as the remembrance of others.  I know I'll remember it.  I love you guys.  :)


Saturday, October 19, 2013

JUST GO TO SLEEP ALREADY. Don't make me break out Samuel L. Jackson.......

Ugh.  Last night stunk.  Delano was up for three straight hours in the middle of the night for no obvious reason.  I tried letting him cry it out, I tried rocking him, I tried letting him lie on my chest in bed......nothing seemed to work.  And he wasn't having any sleeping in our bed, either.  I've never brought him into our bed to sleep (I personally never wanted to introduce the habit) but he was just as upset about that as he was about being in his own bed.  He wanted me to hold him - period.  And I knew he was absolutely exhausted, but he just couldn't seem to get to sleep, even while lying on me.  The reason I didn't just let him cry it out from the get-go (or at least after I checked on him to make sure he was alright) is because we're in Nashville at the in-laws' house and therefore he's sleeping in a Pack N' Play next to our bed with my brother-in-law sleeping (or trying to sleep) in the next room and the parents sleeping directly under us downstairs.  Not exactly ideal for an hour-long (or longer) cry-fest, nor the best scenario for him to successfully fall asleep.  If I had been able to fall asleep in the rocking chair (or bed) with him on my chest, I totally would have.  But neither were comfortable enough for that.  So Mama was ALSO up for three hours straight last night.  I felt like this:



I was really hoping I'd get up this morning to find another tooth in Delano's mouth, but alas, there was no such thing.  It's possible that a tooth could show up in a few days to explain the difficulty of sleeping, but it's more likely that it's simply because we're out of town, he's not in his own bed and he's not on his regular schedule.  He's always been super adaptable to travel and a change of schedule, but these last two Nashville trips have just been rough for whatever reason.  The last time we came home from being in Nashville, he slept like a ROCK for 13 hours straight.

Daddy got a little more sleep than Mommy, but not a whole lot more!

So needless to say, I am TIRED today.  Not overwhelmingly tired....my body just feels a little like melted butter.  And I have felt like doing jack crap.  Which has been successful so far.  :)  The brother-in-law managed to get a nap in earlier today.  Lucas, on the other hand, has been up-and-at'em all day building his garage roof.  I'm just dreading tonight.  I REALLY hope it's not a repeat of last night.  I'm hoping to get the baby down for the night a little earlier this evening, but since Lucas and his Dad are working on the roof all day and then we're going out to eat tonight, I doubt that will happen.  So maybe Delano and I will head downstairs and sleep in the living room recliner if we end up having a repeat performance!

My husband has built this entire garage himself, with help from his dad when he's been available.  He's just slightly handy to have around.

Speaking of that man of mine, his birthday's coming up in a couple of weeks!  Lucas and I have never been ones to do gifts on our birthdays (or even Christmas).  When we first started dating, we decided to nix them - one of my favorite parts about my birthday has always been going out for a fancy dinner anyway.  So I told him that he just always had to get me a card and treat me to a snazzy dinner, which is what I do for him as well.  And if we're able to get out of town on our birthdays, we do.  One year we went to Asheville and toured the Biltmore Estate for my birthday.  Last year we spent Lucas's birthday weekend at a cabin with friends.  We were in Philly over my birthday one year, and in Nashville at the Beer, BBQ and Bourbon Festival for Lucas's another.  As for Christmas, it just REALLY takes the pressure off of gift-giving since we don't have to worry about it for each other!  And even Christmas shopping for my family has gotten way less stressful over the last several years, as the siblings do ridiculous stockings (with a $50 cap) and my parents made us promise to simply provide a framed photo every year (either as a group or separately).  My mom just decided she was tired of buying things just to "buy things", and we all totally agreed.


I DO really enjoy picking a name or two from the Angel Tree and buying for children who need it, and I hope to pass on the excitement of that to my children as well.  The local Humane Society also has their own Angel Tree, where you can pick an animal and sponsor their adoption fee to aide in them finding their forever home (if you can't adopt yourself).  I hope that my children will want to do that every year, too!

Everybody should do this!!  Some kids just really need clothes.

With all that being said......having a child makes it a bit more difficult to plan a couple's retreat birthday weekend, and at the very least it changes the type of trip we might normally plan.  We've always been big fans of B&Bs.....those are totally out with a baby.  So are museums, or at least some of the ones we would have hit up pre-baby.  Plus, with me working mostly as a stay-at-home mom, I can't exactly "surprise" Lucas with a preplanned getaway without him being included on the happenings.  We've also already mapped out our travels for the rest of the year.  So this year, I've got some little ideas planned to go down throughout the day and dinner (of course) planned for the evening.  And my brother's birthday is the very next day, which I've already bought the gift for.  So I guess I'm set for now!

Well, I've got apples steaming in the baby food maker and a toddler trying to hijack my laptop, so I guess I'll wrap things up for now.  P.S.  I STILL haven't taken my 28 weeks belly pic.  Poor Baby #2, already getting the shaft!  :)

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Third Trimester - We're Here!

Happy Third Trimester, ya'll!!  Woo hoo!!






The last stretch, as some would say.  When things really start to get "real".  You get the fattest of fat, you're exhausted after simply making the effort to get out of a chair (and you may or may not have made it out), your feet become puffy fluid-filled marshmallows (bye bye ankles!), your everything hurts, the pregnancy giggles make everything hilarious, you could pee yourself at any given moment, you think you look cute one day until you look back at pictures later and think HOLY COW (MOOOOOOO), and the baby moves around like a wild, rabid animal trapped in a cage, seemingly as an angry warrior wreaking havoc on your ribcage and internal organs.  It's good times, people.  But honestly, this is my favorite part of being pregnant.  At least the first 8-10 weeks......those last 2 weeks or so are when you start doing squats in the living room hoping the baby will JUST FALL OUT ALREADY.  But the first part of the third trimester, when you can feel the baby's every move (and can pinpoint body parts from the outside), when the giggles make you laugh so hard you cry and it feels REALLY good to laugh like that (even if you do pee), and when you're so obviously pregnant that you get a "pass" for basically everything - the way you look (pregnant women are NOT FAT EVER), the way you dress (Dare anyone to challenge a pregnant woman who wants to wear PJs all day forever, food stains and all), the way you act (I'm sorry, was I a bitch just then?  Must be these crazy hormones!), and what you shove into your mouth (I'll have a waffle taco, a mexican pizza, two burrito supremes and a large order of fries, please.  Oh, you don't have fries?  That's ok, there's a burger joint right across the street) - makes it all worth it.  Even the really crappy parts, like INSANE FIERY HEARTBURN.




Some women don't get heartburn AT ALL.  Some of those people are friends of mine.  And though I envy those who live heartburn-free, I wouldn't wish it on anybody.  The old wives tale is that heartburn means a head full of hair.  While there IS some scientific truth that hair on a fetus can cause heartburn, it's not always true.  In my case, I had a crazy mad heartburn and yet delivered a bald baby.  One of my heartburn-free friends delivered a baby with a head packed full of hair.  Baby #2 is probably bald, too.  Go figure.

I thought I had my heartburn pegged to high sugar content and a few other specific foods, but now (again) I'm not so sure.  Yesterday I had a small chocolate bar, some peanut butter cups and half of a Coca-Cola to try to get Baby #2 frisky for his/her 2nd attempt at a 4D ultrasound (I'll post those pics next week after I get back home from the in-laws' house).  I thought for sure I'd be chewing Tums the rest of the day due to the sugar and peanut butter.  NO HEARTBURN.  I had a little heartburn last night around 3am, but I had eaten garlic shrimp and a small piece of caramel cheesecake for dinner, so I'm guessing that little bit was related to either the garlic or the cheesecake.  So in other words, I still don't know for sure what sets me aflame!!


Back in June, I pre-registered Delano for swim lessons at the Aqua-Tots Swim School opening in Chattanooga.  The original opening day was planned for July 1st.  When that didn't happen, they rescheduled their opening day for September 1st.  Well it is now mid-October, and the swim school has yet to open up.  You can drive by it and see that it's in process but just not quite ready yet.  And I'm okay with all of that.  I'm not mad that Delano's swim lessons have been delayed.  BUT it is getting closer and closer to Baby #2 being here.  I knew that I would eventually need an extra hand every week to watch Baby #2 for half an hour while Delano and I had our swim lesson, but I also thought we'd be 4+ months into lessons already by now.  I emailed them a day or two ago asking for an update, so hopefully I'll hear from them soon.  Then I can decide if I want to go ahead and start his lessons or if I want to hold off until after Baby #2 is here.  I don't want to cancel altogether - I want my kids to learn how to swim while they're young and be confident about how to handle themselves in water (plus it will make me feel a whole lot better), plus the Aqua-Tots rates are REALLY good compared to anywhere else I've found.  So we'll just have to see!


P.S.  Aqua-Tots also offers CPR and First Aid classes, to anyone who might be looking!  Or they will, anyways, if they ever open.

I just reminded myself that I need to renew my ABC (liquor) permit for bartending at the museum.  BOO.  Talk about 5 hours worth of boring and $70 wasted.  I meant to get it done last month but got distracted and totally forgot.  The ABC Permits Class Calendar shows several classes during the week from 10-3, so maybe I'll go get that done one day next week.


I have more things saved on my phone to talk about (I have an app called "Out of Milk" with a to-list called "Blog Ideas" where I jot down things to talk about as I think of them), but right now I think I'm going to post some Gdiaper covers for sale on Ebay.  They've been hanging out in a bag, waiting to be posted.....I just haven't gotten around to it yet.  So here's my Round Tuit!  :)

I actually have one of these somewhere......

Napping Is For Quitters. Quitters At Being Awake, That Is.

I got all excited because I was going to make my first cereal box magazine organizer from a box of Kellogg's Corn Flakes that Lucas finished off yesterday morning.  This idea was quickly deflated, though, when I discovered that my magazines were wider than the box itself.  It was even the family-size box, but apparently for this particular box of Corn Flakes, that just meant taller and not wider (probably because it fits in cabinets better).  Guess I'll have to scour the cereal shelves for the wider boxes, like Cheerios.  I may need to even carry a magazine to the cereal section for "good measure" (heehee I kid, I kid).

I took the double jogger out for a test drive yesterday afternoon!  Had Delano on one side and the empty infant seat on the other (I totally meant to grab Curious George for the infant seat!).  The stroller itself was smooth as butter, but HOLY CRAP my pregnant ass did NOT want to push it up any inclines!!  My mom actually pushed it up almost all of the hills!  And it wasn't because the stroller was heavy - because it wasn't that heavy - it was because Baby #2 was angry about the whole experience altogether.  Baby #2 does NOT want me to sweat, I guess.  Baby #2 is anti-workout.  On the plus side, it was an AWESOME day to be outside with the kiddo.  About 73 degrees and cloudy all day.  PERFECT!

It's me and Lucas!  Just kidding.  Lucas doesn't run.

Delano's nap times have been ever changing lately, and he obviously didn't consult me before deciding to revamp his nap schedule on a daily basis.  He used to nap like clockwork, and occasionally he'll have a day that is exactly like the old clockwork schedule:  Up at 8:00, down for a nap at 10:00, up at noon, down for a nap at 4:00, up at 6:00, and then down for the night at 8:00.  Nowadays, he may wake up at 7:30, or he may wake up ay 9:30.  Then he MIGHT be ready for a morning nap 2 hours later.  If he doesn't take his morning nap, then he'll for sure be ready for a nap by about 1:00 or 2:00, which will usually nix the late afternoon nap.  At one point I thought he was done with morning naps because he skipped them for three days in a row, but then he was back to AM sleeping by the fourth day.  Sometimes he'll fall asleep for a nap right away, sometimes he'll play/fuss for a while before he falls asleep.  The other day, he played (and lightly fussed here and there) for an HOUR AND A HALF in his crib before he passed out.  Sometimes he naps for 45 minutes, sometimes he naps for 2 1/2 hours.  And it's not that I don't try to keep him on a regular schedule.  I do, unless there's something going on that alters it.  It's just that he's growing up and trying to figure out what kind of schedule his body wants right now.  He likes to be awake!  I personally think he should stick with the 2 naps at 2 hours each schedule.  FOREVER.  :) 

Delano's new signs lately include "octopus" (waving his arms around wildly), "book" (opening and closing his palms like a book), "thank you" (kind of looks like blowing a kiss) and "more" (forming circles with his hands and tapping his fingers together).  Ironically, "more" was one of the very first signs we ever started using with him 6 months ago, but he just now started doing it back.  He knew what it meant after a while, just never performed it himself.  And now he does it all the time.  He's basically replaced his sign for "eat" for the moment with "more", which is totally fine.  His belly wants more of whatever's coming!  He also really like's the sign for "bug"- it makes him laugh - but he can't quite do it yet.  It requires a little more coordination!

This is the actual sign for octopus.  We prefer flailing our arms around like we're drowning.  It's way more effective and really gets your point across.  :)

UH. DORBS.
Bug - put your thumb on your nose and wiggle your first two fingers.  Delano just kind of puts his hand up against his face and waves.  Sort of, buddy!

Yesterday (the 16th) was both the day Delano hit 14 months old and I hit the 28 week (third trimester) mark with Baby #2.  I didn't get any good pics yesterday for 14 months, NOR did I take my 28 week belly pic.  It was a busy day!  So maybe I'll get around to it today or tomorrow.  But I did take this pic of D napping in the car.....


Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Double Joggers, Woolies, Preggo Heartburn and Velcro Shoes

Here's my 27 weeks (plus 3 days) belly shot:


 And here's my 27 weeks pic from last time around:


I think my belly actually looks bigger in the pic above from the first time around!  But then when you look at my 28 weeks pic from the first time around, it looks almost identical to right now:

I think it depends a lot on what I'm wearing, or how exactly I'm standing, or how the baby is laying at that exact moment.

So it looks like I'm right on track with the first time around now.  And I'm thinking a bulb must have burned out in the bathroom, because the older pictures are so much brighter than the recent ones.  I'll have to look into that.  But anyway, moving on......

I'M SUPER EXCITED!!

A while back I mentioned that the only thing I really needed for the arrival of Baby #2 was a double stroller, and that I'd like a double jogger so that I could hit the pavement with it as well.  A friend of mine commented on the post, saying that she had a double jogger I could buy from her that she LOVED but that her kids were finally outgrowing.  Well, I picked that stroller up today to "test drive" and now I can't wait to actually test drive it!

Thar she blows!
It's a Bumbleride Indie Twin, and it's all sorts of fancy.  One of the main things I needed to do with it was make sure that my infant car seat would work with it, and it does!  The top part of the car seat actually locks down onto the bumper bar and the stroller seat folds up to hold it even more secure.  And once the car seat strap is strapped around the foot-end of the car seat, it will be snug as a bug!  It came with a removable cup holder that clips to the side, but I've already been online eyeballing the Parent Pack Console attachment for my drink/keys/phone and the Snack Pack attachment for Delano's drink/snacks/toys.  I think tomorrow will be a good day for a test drive, even though my pregnant butt can't do much jogging at the moment!  And who are we kidding......I'm pretty certain I'm not giving this back!  ;)

So it was time to wash and lanolize Delano's wool diaper covers (this happens every few weeks), so I found out how to do it and did it myself last week.  The first couple of mornings after my first lanolizing experience, Delano was wet, so I figured I had done something wrong even though I had NO idea what that "something" was.  But this morning, Delano was bone dry on the outside of the diaper just as he should be.  So I'm thinking next time maybe I'll try separating the washing from the lanolizing (which is typically done together), and see if that helps with the first couple of uses.  I also know I used more lanolin than recommended, so maybe the next time I'll actually follow the recommendations and see if that makes a difference.  These aren't the instructions I originally followed (I watched a video I found somewhere), but here's an example of how you clean and lanolize wool.  It looks like a lot of work, but like the lady says in her instructions, it's REALLY easy and not much work at all.  I know from experience!

Washing/soaking a woolie.  Looks like fun, right?

Speaking of woolies, you can Google patterns for them online and make them yourself out of old wool sweaters (or, of course, wool you buy at the fabric store).  I'm not crafty enough to make them myself (nor do I own a sewing machine), but my mom is.......so I'm going to recruit her to make one for me to see how well it goes.  EVEN THOUGH SHE'S ALLERGIC TO WOOL.  That's because I'm an awesome daughter like that.  ;)  Just kidding.  I mean, my mom really IS allergic to wool so she said she'd have to wear a face mask while she sews, but she also said she doesn't mind trying it out.  BECAUSE SHE'S AN AWESOME MOM.  So next week when the Practically Perfect Consignment Sale hits Chattanooga, I'm going to scour the racks for some old, soft, wool sweaters we can cut up!  But if all else fails......the diaper doesn't come out as we hope or she can't handle working with wool.....the lady I bought my first two from has already made some more cute ones!

Monkey butt!
Since I talked about my constant heartburn in a recent post, I decided to try a lot harder to see if I could pinpoint what was triggering it.  For the longest time I couldn't seem to pinpoint it.  Sometimes when I ate greasy food, I got heartburn, and other times I didn't.  Sometimes when I ate sweet stuff I got heartburn, while other times I didn't.  Sometimes I felt like simply drinking water was giving me heartburn.  The only things I knew for sure that would make my insides sizzle up were peanut butter (anytime I eat a PB&J) and soy products (like my oh-so-yummy Morning Star corn dogs and chicken patties).  So I only eat those on occasion with the knowledge that Tums are the dessert.  But all this time I had never tried fully eliminating anything else from the equation, since there didn't seem to be any sort of pattern.  Until last week.

Last Thursday, I ate a bowl of Chex cereal in the morning, and decided that I was going to eat a salad for lunch (which I did, from F2O).  Then when I was STARVING in the afternoon, I ate an apple.  The apple did very little to quench my appetite, but I wanted to stick with fresh fruits and veggies to see if they caused my chest to cry.  THEY DIDN'T.  Then for dinner I had Japanese hibachi at Ichiban, which I thought would SURELY set my chest on fire.  IT DIDN'T.  I went all day and all night without chewing a single Tums! 

The next day (Friday), I had my chocolate sugary cereal for breakfast.  My cereal has never seemed to cause me any heartburn, but I wanted to make sure.  IT DIDN'T.  Then for lunch, I had leftover Ichiban.  NO HEARTBURN.  For a snack later that day I had grapes, strawberries, blueberries and blackberries.  STILL NO HEARTBURN.  It was turning out to be a glorious second day. 

I was feeling like this lady.

But then that evening, I had Mexican for dinner and went to a birthday party where I had a couple of cookies and about half of a cupcake.  That night my chest was back to being on fire.  Ironically, I don't think it was the Mexican food (though I can test this theory), since I ate about half of a taco salad and none of the chips and salsa.  I'm pretty certain it was the cookies and cupcake.  So I'm thinking that it's sugar that gives me heartburn!!  But not all sugary things, which is why I hadn't pinpointed it before.  My chocolate cereal in the mornings doesn't bother me at all.  And the homemade strawberry shortcake at my parents' house Sunday night didn't bother me, either.  It seems to be the really junky sugary stuff, like cookies and icing, that does it.  Good thing my craving for cake icing as a snack in the afternoons went away several weeks ago!

Because this was all sorts of a good idea to begin with, anyway.

I still think that other junk food, like the really-bad-for-you-fast-food kind, probably also flares up my chest like sugar does, but I don't eat enough of it to bother worrying about it.  I can just avoid it.  Or if I do have a craving one day for some french fries or whatever, then I'll know.  But I'm definitely going to avoid the high concentration sugar snacks, even though Halloween is right around the corner!!

I thought this was a neat and artistic photo for sugar addiction by an artist known as Nao-Dignity.

Delano has moved up in shoe size already from a size 3 (which I JUST bought at consignment sales last month) to a size 4 (luckily I bought some of those, too).  And I've already learned something, besides the fact that his feet are growing like weeds.  Velcro shoes are awesome for kids because you don't have to deal with laces, both getting them tied and keeping them tied.  But the downside to velcro shoes is that your child can also easily take them off.  Delano hasn't actually pulled his shoes off yet, but he undoes the velcro all the time because it's fun times.  But that's ok, because his shoes are adorable, and he DOES try to re-velcro them himself.

Star Wars!
I bought one pair of size 5 shoes at a consignment sale last month just in case he needed them before the next round of consignment sales hit in February/March, but it looks like I should buy a few more pair at the last couple of fall/winter consignment sales this month and maybe even a a couple of size 6s!!

Crazy weed baby.......

Monday, October 14, 2013

Projects and My To-Do List

I've been making my way (again) through my stack of magazines, and one of the DIY tips in an HGTV magazine was to make magazine organizers using cereal boxes.  I'd seen this idea before (it reminds me of something you would do with the kiddos on a rainy afternoon) but hadn't thought about it in who knows how long.  So since I probably won't make it through all of my magazines anytime super soon, I think I'm going to at least organize them so that they're not just sitting in jumbled stacks on the TV cabinet.  Because what I need is another project, right?  ;)

I'M GONNA BE CRAFTY!!

I figured I would cover my boxes with something to make them pretty, but I think at first I just need to focus on making the boxes happen.  THEN I can worry about what they look like, if I even care.

I have been VERY SLOWLY working on getting organized for Baby #2.  I pulled out the box of 0-3 month baby clothes and hung them up, as well as reorganized dresser drawers in D's room so that he and Baby #2 will both have drawer space.  I've got my double stroller on stand-by for pick-up, and I've got the recliner in the basement on stand-by for relocation to the upstairs living room.  The original plan was to have the glider chair recovered before Baby #2 arrived (which is already in the living room...the chair, not the baby), but that hasn't happened yet.  And I'm not going to ask Lucas about it right now, because he's been working hard on a bunch of other projects (including other things I've asked him to do) and so it's not a big deal.  But I do know that he pretty much hates my recliner, so I'll have to recruit my brother Ben to help me move it upstairs on the sly in a couple of months if we need to.   SHHHH!  :)

The glider is clean, but it has water damage on the fabric from being stored in a leaky attic, and it needs covered arms.

I haven't made any more progress on the office/guest bedroom yet, because I need Lucas's help moving a few things around first and cleaning up the office space portion (his stuff is EVERYWHERE, but according to him it's all "organized"). Once we rearrange his desk space, I can move a few other things around (or out).  Then I'll need to switch out the box spring on the future guest bed with the one on the current guest bed in Delano's room, since right now the mattress isn't level and Lucas says it's because the box spring is dead.  Then I'll need to get a few of the guys to help me level the piano (there's a board that goes underneath the backside to make it level because it's really old and missing two of its wheels, but it weighs about 1,000 pounds and lifting it is NOT easy).  THEN I'll need Lucas's help moving the full bed out of Delano's room and getting the bunk beds down from the attic to replace it.  I also want to put a ceiling fan in the office/guest bedroom, because it can get really stuffy in there and I don't want our guests to cook.  But that's not a big deal (Lucas can install a ceiling fan in no time) and since it's about to be wintertime, not on the "urgent" list.

The current state of the office/guest bedroom.  P.S.  Like our Halloween window decoration?  SUPER CREEPY.
The "office" portion of the office/guest bedroom.

Another thing I'd like to get done before Baby #2 gets here is to finish cleaning off my old desk and then get rid of it.  I've already started this project, now I just need to finish it, which actually may or may not happen before the baby gets here.  It would just be easier if it does!

My old desk, currently downstairs in the dogs' room.
Where I've gotten started on the desk, going through files and paperwork.

There are other projects on my to-do list, but I'm definitely not convinced that they're going to get done before the baby gets here.  And there are even bigger house projects on the agenda that I have absolutely NO IDEA when they'll even be started (since they require stripping wallpaper and painting).....probably when the kids are in preschool!  But all that's ok.  All of that stuff is just aesthetic, anyway.

I hear the baby, so I guess it's time to go get him up!